St. Louis man pleads guilty to soliciting pipe bomb near Hamel

Published 11:50 am, Tuesday, October 10, 2017

MADISON COUNTY — A St. Louis man pleaded guilty last week to soliciting and accepting a pipe bomb near Hamel.

Paul R. Owens, 30, of St. Louis faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful receipt and possession of an unregistered destructive device. He is also facing three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment fee, according to United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Donald S. Boyce.

According to court documents, beginning on July 20, through the time of his arrest on July 28, Owens solicited a pipe bomb, specifying that he wanted it to be four inches in length with hardened steel end caps containing black powder with a one and a half to two feet long fuse.

On July 28, Owens accepted a toolbox containing a pipe bomb constructed by an ATF bomb expert in such a manner that it would only smoke if detonated. Owens had not registered the pipe bomb in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

According to Boyce, Owens looked into the toolbox and indicated that the pipe bomb was as he requested and provided morphine pills in exchange for the pipe bomb. Law enforcement immediately arrested Owens.

The investigation of Owens was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Hamel Police Department.